


WWTD One-Shots

by FireGriffin



Category: Gravity Falls, What Would Tesla Do
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 17:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15514545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireGriffin/pseuds/FireGriffin
Summary: whatwouldteslado.tumblr.com is a live ask blog run by Ford during his paranoid phase. I'll be writing short little fics about it.





	WWTD One-Shots

The anons always came.  
  
From his best to his worst moments, in the sunlight and in the dark, they always came, and he didn’t always understand what they meant. Were they strangers? Agents of Bill who sought his destruction? Time travelers bestowing knowledge through riddles and memes?  
  
When Ford read the messages flowing in, he sometimes felt encouraged. They cared, even if they didn’t know him. They were scientists who believed in the supernatural, and more astonishingly, believed in his ability to defeat it.  
  
Other times, the messages shattered what he’d built up in his mind, reminding him again and again of the mantra that had never failed him yet: _trust no one_.  
  
Other times, he simply felt afraid. F had only built one handheld computing device, as far as he knew, so who else could be listening? Who else would want to watch his antics, other than people as chaotic and terrible as Bill Cipher?  
  
The difficult thing was that on top of all of this, he had much bigger issues to think about.  Stanley. The possession situation. His portal schematics. The society of the blind eye. Things were bad enough without a slew of gray-faced strangers whispering suggestions of wildly varying consequence.  
  
Above all, Ford was tired. He could switch off the device. He could leave it alone, or smash it, or stop responding to the messages that poured in… but he didn’t do any of that.  
  
Maybe it was because he’d grown fond of the attention. It was lonely, fighting against monumental odds without anyone to stand by your side, and enough of the anons stroked his ego to make them err on the side of endearing.  
  
Or maybe it was the fact that this was a gift from F, the brilliant inventor who’d been too wise to continue on Ford’s destructive path. The man who was currently skulking about in a red cloak, doing things that Ford didn’t want to imagine. He wanted to remember the man who’d given him an advanced computing device, not the one with dazed eyes who lurked in the shadows.  
  
Did it matter, really, why he held on to the device? Ford set it down, stomach churning with worry and fatigue. He hadn’t told Stan about the true nature of this device yet. Would it be wise to compromise his privacy, by letting another person in on all of this? Even if that person was his own brother?  
  
Well. There was a reason they hadn’t seen each other in over ten years.  
  
Ford carried a fresh change of clothes into the bathroom, about to take the first shower he’d taken in months. As the water poured over his face in a shock of warmth, he repeated his mantra to keep himself centered. _Trust no one. Not even Stan. Not even the anons. And especially not yourself._  
  
Steam rose from the shower, loosening the tension in his neck. Ford clenched his teeth, watching the dirty water as it circled around the drain and fell through. _I have to stay alert._  
  
Ford stepped out of the shower, breathing more calmly in spite of himself. As he dried his face off with a towel, he sighed deeply, then choked a little on the musty smell of it.  
  
After he’d lowered the towel from his face, and slid his glasses back to their perch on his nose, and felt the embrace of the towel draped over his shoulders for a moment, Ford was done.  
  
He was done feeling bitter, or amused, or anything else. There was a demon to stop, and emotions would only get in his way.  
  
This time, when the anons came, he would be ready.  
  
  
  



End file.
